US says proposed Chinese regulations could fragment the Internet

[bill]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3071206/us-says-proposed-chinese-regulations-could-fragment-the-internet.html [pcworld.com]

US says proposed Chinese regulations could fragment the Internet

The focus of concern of the two U.S. officials is a vaguely-defined new article 37, which has been interpreted as banning Internet Service Providers in China from providing Internet access to domain names that are registered with a registrar abroad, hence cutting off China’s Internet from the rest of the world.

[lucy24]

Uh... China wants to become North Korea? Why, fer hevvins sake? Rhetorical question.

[tangor]

Now, that's what I call a "walled garden"!

[bill]

They already make my non-Chinese registrar jump thru hoops for .cn domains. I have to provide a photo ID and register the site with the Chinese police. China could really isolate itself with this move.

[lucy24]

Now, wait a minute.

banning Internet Service Providers in China from providing Internet access to ...

Only and specifically ISPs? What about internet access by other means, like through educational institutions? Or are those already restricted? (I assume that top levels of government have their own rules complete with their own exemptions, in the same way that 1024 people in North Korea have true internet access.) And, er, ahem, what about Chinese robots crawling non-Chinese sites? Nobody's planning to clamp down on that, are they?

:: vague mental association with stories about real purpose of historical Great Wall ::

[engine]

Some countries require much tighter restrictions on registrations and I can see why that might be the case.

I thought the idea was that business was easier, but this may just make some of it a little tougher.

[lucy24]

Some countries require much tighter restrictions on registrations

Sure, but there's a heck of a difference between asking you to prove you are a bona fide French person doing business in France before you can have a .fr domain ... and denying your own citizens access to sites that don't meet the test.